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The Kissing List
An inventive debut that recalls the imagination of Aimee Bender and the sardonic wit of Lorrie Moore.
The interlocking stories in The Kissing List feature an unforgettable group of young women – Sylvie, Anna, Frances, Maureen – as their lives connect, first during a year abroad at Oxford, then later as they move to New York on the cusp of adulthood. We follow each of them as they navigate the treachery of first dates, temp jobs and roommates, failed relationships and unexpected affairs – all the things that make their lives seem full of possibility, but also rife with potential disappointment.
Shot through with laugh-out-loud lines, yet still wrenchingly emotional and resonant, The Kissing List is a book about women who bravely defy expectations and take outrageous chances in the face of a life that might turn out to be anything less than extraordinary.
The interlocking stories in The Kissing List feature an unforgettable group of young women – Sylvie, Anna, Frances, Maureen – as their lives connect, first during a year abroad at Oxford, then later as they move to New York on the cusp of adulthood. We follow each of them as they navigate the treachery of first dates, temp jobs and roommates, failed relationships and unexpected affairs – all the things that make their lives seem full of possibility, but also rife with potential disappointment.
Shot through with laugh-out-loud lines, yet still wrenchingly emotional and resonant, The Kissing List is a book about women who bravely defy expectations and take outrageous chances in the face of a life that might turn out to be anything less than extraordinary.
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
23 people are currently reading
846 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Reents
6 books74 followersStephanie Reents is the author of The Kissing List, a collection of stories that was an Editors’ Choice in The New York Times Book Review, and I Meant to Kill Ye, a bibliomemoir chronicling her journey into the strange void at the heart of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. She has twice received an O. Henry Prize for her short fiction. Reents received a BA from Amherst College, where she ran on the cross country team all four years; a BA from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar; and an MFA from the University of Arizona. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
July 26, 2012
I picked up The Kissing List expecting some sort of chick lit, but lo behold! When I was done reading it, I felt like I got more than I had bargained for.
But Reents, I think there is a minor error that needs fixing, and I wonder why the literati haven’t already raised a stink about it: contrary to what your educated character Frances thinks, women in Bangladesh are “not forced to consent to genital mutilation.” Maybe in Burundi they are, I don’t know. Since the copy I have is a galley edition, I am only hoping that the published edition doesn’t contain this blunder. Being Bangladeshi myself, I was a little taken aback at the kinds of uneducated assumptions people make about my country, simply because we are among the world’s poorest (who have more recently made news for defaulting on World Bank loans). But, not all third world countries are the same, and FGM is not an issue in Bangladesh, which is not to suggest that we don’t have other women’s issues.
Since it’s Ramadan and I am in a mood to forgive, I am going to let this minor slip pass and continue with the book otherwise.
The Kissing List explores lives of twenty-something women discovering themselves and their sexuality in the humdrum of career, friends, academics, and personal insecurities. The personal insecurities these women experience were highly relatable: I cannot bring myself to trust a man, especially someone I haven’t known since childhood; I doubt their intentions. I am only twenty, so I might not have been struck by quarter-life crisis yet, but I have a feeling the characters in this book are talking to me, asking me to beware. I dream that after I graduate, I will have an exciting job, but none of the characters in this book seem to be as lucky, despite the fact that they are bright and intelligent and have been to Oxford.
Amidst the banalities these loosely interconnected lives navigate (and seek), one of the characters, Laurie, is suffering from brain cancer. She, too, wades through the uncertainties that a girl’s twenties are, enjoying the attention that her long legs get, discussing kissing with her roommate, Sylvie, and betting half a month’s rent that she can have have five people on her kissing list first. But, Laurie stops wading through this uncertainty once she falls so sick that there is no way her friends are right that she is not truly dying. Her friends seem to have left her, maybe because they are divided on the issue of whether she will actually die. Or maybe her friends left because they have to continue squelching through being a twenty-something. Someone dying so young would definitely choose to suffer through quarter-life crisis, because in the face of death, quarter-life crisis seems like something out of a film which is bound to end happily. Although quarter-life crisis seems romantic, because most of the insecure twenty-something characters live in the moment, every story is tinted with darkness.
Through these stories, the sexuality of twenty-something career women are explored. These women want to try out partners, see how their expectations play out, but are occasionally disappointed. Love is not the fireworks it used to be, as though women have moved on, but relationships are still stuck in the 50s. The theme of discovering and exploring sexuality might put off righteous readers, but it is handled so subtly that it is least provocative. The stories are not graphic or erotic, and we glimpse the characters’ thoughts and feelings rather than their physical activities. The stories are realistic in that they discuss the real insecurities of these women, one of which is sexual insecurity. I remember reading an article about this book in which Stephanie Reents mentions an older woman who was put off by the book, and Reents’ response to the woman was that the sexual revolution has happened, and there is no turning back. Leaving out sexuality from the zone of insecurities these women navigate would damage the stories, sort of slur over reality. Being a Bangladeshi resident in Qatar, I am afraid we are far, far away from the sexual revolution happening any time soon, but I think young women here can relate to the characters in the book as women here experience similar insecurities every time a match maker brings a proposal from a prospective suitor. That is about the time when women here become more aware of themselves and their sexuality and develop expectations, and every time a book comes out about these women and their lives but leaves out their sexuality, I find it difficult to comprehend.
The Kissing List surpassed all my expectations, and I might have come out of it disturbed. Don’t get me wrong, I like a book that manages to disturb me. Reading this book disillusioned me about the charm I hold for life after graduation. It’s not like I did not know before—I have a twenty-something older sister—but sometimes I like to dream, and only a book like this can break the spell of unrealistic dreams.
My favourite line in the book: “They’re still my friends because they’ve always believed that I’ll live,” I said. “And when I was still optimistic, this suited me, but now their hopefulness fits me like old clothes.”
But Reents, I think there is a minor error that needs fixing, and I wonder why the literati haven’t already raised a stink about it: contrary to what your educated character Frances thinks, women in Bangladesh are “not forced to consent to genital mutilation.” Maybe in Burundi they are, I don’t know. Since the copy I have is a galley edition, I am only hoping that the published edition doesn’t contain this blunder. Being Bangladeshi myself, I was a little taken aback at the kinds of uneducated assumptions people make about my country, simply because we are among the world’s poorest (who have more recently made news for defaulting on World Bank loans). But, not all third world countries are the same, and FGM is not an issue in Bangladesh, which is not to suggest that we don’t have other women’s issues.
Since it’s Ramadan and I am in a mood to forgive, I am going to let this minor slip pass and continue with the book otherwise.
The Kissing List explores lives of twenty-something women discovering themselves and their sexuality in the humdrum of career, friends, academics, and personal insecurities. The personal insecurities these women experience were highly relatable: I cannot bring myself to trust a man, especially someone I haven’t known since childhood; I doubt their intentions. I am only twenty, so I might not have been struck by quarter-life crisis yet, but I have a feeling the characters in this book are talking to me, asking me to beware. I dream that after I graduate, I will have an exciting job, but none of the characters in this book seem to be as lucky, despite the fact that they are bright and intelligent and have been to Oxford.
Amidst the banalities these loosely interconnected lives navigate (and seek), one of the characters, Laurie, is suffering from brain cancer. She, too, wades through the uncertainties that a girl’s twenties are, enjoying the attention that her long legs get, discussing kissing with her roommate, Sylvie, and betting half a month’s rent that she can have have five people on her kissing list first. But, Laurie stops wading through this uncertainty once she falls so sick that there is no way her friends are right that she is not truly dying. Her friends seem to have left her, maybe because they are divided on the issue of whether she will actually die. Or maybe her friends left because they have to continue squelching through being a twenty-something. Someone dying so young would definitely choose to suffer through quarter-life crisis, because in the face of death, quarter-life crisis seems like something out of a film which is bound to end happily. Although quarter-life crisis seems romantic, because most of the insecure twenty-something characters live in the moment, every story is tinted with darkness.
Through these stories, the sexuality of twenty-something career women are explored. These women want to try out partners, see how their expectations play out, but are occasionally disappointed. Love is not the fireworks it used to be, as though women have moved on, but relationships are still stuck in the 50s. The theme of discovering and exploring sexuality might put off righteous readers, but it is handled so subtly that it is least provocative. The stories are not graphic or erotic, and we glimpse the characters’ thoughts and feelings rather than their physical activities. The stories are realistic in that they discuss the real insecurities of these women, one of which is sexual insecurity. I remember reading an article about this book in which Stephanie Reents mentions an older woman who was put off by the book, and Reents’ response to the woman was that the sexual revolution has happened, and there is no turning back. Leaving out sexuality from the zone of insecurities these women navigate would damage the stories, sort of slur over reality. Being a Bangladeshi resident in Qatar, I am afraid we are far, far away from the sexual revolution happening any time soon, but I think young women here can relate to the characters in the book as women here experience similar insecurities every time a match maker brings a proposal from a prospective suitor. That is about the time when women here become more aware of themselves and their sexuality and develop expectations, and every time a book comes out about these women and their lives but leaves out their sexuality, I find it difficult to comprehend.
The Kissing List surpassed all my expectations, and I might have come out of it disturbed. Don’t get me wrong, I like a book that manages to disturb me. Reading this book disillusioned me about the charm I hold for life after graduation. It’s not like I did not know before—I have a twenty-something older sister—but sometimes I like to dream, and only a book like this can break the spell of unrealistic dreams.
My favourite line in the book: “They’re still my friends because they’ve always believed that I’ll live,” I said. “And when I was still optimistic, this suited me, but now their hopefulness fits me like old clothes.”
August 22, 2012
This is a compilation of short stories that center around 4-5 friends as they leave college and start their "adult" lives. I watched Girls on HBO and this was very similiar to that. I don't know how accurate a description it is but for someone middle-aged it's scary! (although I don't know how much is New York City and how much 20-something behavior.) A blurb on the back of my ARC says at the heart of each story lies a radiant desperation, and that's true. I'd even upgrade it and say a ultra-purple haze of desperation. Too much thinking going on here. This certainly isn't a happy, beach read book. I certainly could have used more character-identifyers since each short story is narrated by someone different than the one before, and one story I really had no idea who was voicing it.
A good debut, strong writing (if it makes me wince that's getting the message across) and I'll look forward to more. Maybe lighten up a bit Reents? It was a downer even for mice...
A good debut, strong writing (if it makes me wince that's getting the message across) and I'll look forward to more. Maybe lighten up a bit Reents? It was a downer even for mice...
November 7, 2013
Told in an anecdotal, non-linear style, which I quite like.
Some chapters were more connected and memorable than others, but overall I quite enjoyed it.
Some chapters were more connected and memorable than others, but overall I quite enjoyed it.
April 26, 2017
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would when I began reading it... more than some of the reviews led me to think I'd like, actually. Not that other reviewers are wrong - I just took what others had to say and ultimately decided to try to hear what the author wanted to tell me, and liked it just fine.
Reents' premise intrigued me: several friends who attended Oxford together and then all wound up continuing their friendships in New York City are followed through each individual's short tales, where you get to know them through their antics and trials they face in life... from snogging to cancer and several unexpected places in between.
Sylvie, Anna, Frances and Maureen. Each has her own quirks, special-ness and fears. They grow and mature, from beginning to end, with the challenges both light and enormous, and the reader is brought along for every snogging session and tear.
Reents' premise intrigued me: several friends who attended Oxford together and then all wound up continuing their friendships in New York City are followed through each individual's short tales, where you get to know them through their antics and trials they face in life... from snogging to cancer and several unexpected places in between.
Sylvie, Anna, Frances and Maureen. Each has her own quirks, special-ness and fears. They grow and mature, from beginning to end, with the challenges both light and enormous, and the reader is brought along for every snogging session and tear.
September 9, 2023
honestly… this book was me. so chaotic and crazy and the embodiment of being in your early twenties. It slayed
July 25, 2012
What I expected was a STORY. I knew this was going to be a bunch of different stories, but I thought they would make up a whole. But they didn’t. It was like the author had ideas for random scenes and she just threw them together without bothering to verify that they made sense. Everything is so hazy and confusing. It’s not all the author’s fault. Her editor should have helped her to glue all the parts together. Where was the editor?
I had a big problem with the way the narration keeps changing around. I can’t spend ten minutes trying to figure out who is talking. I would go pages and pages wondering who a chapter was about. To make a reader do this is pretentious. It’s like the author and editor didn’t want to spend time on making sure that everything was clear to the reader. Maybe it was supposed to be artistic, but I’m sure it will be irritating enough for people to just stop reading the book. Also, the characters are very weak and we don’t get to know any of them. To be honest, most of them are so unlikeable that I don’t want to get to know them. I don’t expect characters to be perfect, but they should have some redeeming qualities. Not many of the characters here did. They were hollow people.
I am not a prude and I don’t mind reading about sex, but I expect it to mean something in the story. In The Kissing List, it meant nothing to anyone. Example: The Porn Star chapter. Some of the writing shone through in the book and was good, but in this chapter I was surprised at how poorly done it was. The character kept thinking “My porn star, my little pony.” That just left me scratching my head. Was it supposed to be funny? It wasn’t. I didn’t laugh once while reading this book. I would give the author another try with a different book because I think she has a lot of potential, but I’m sorry I just can’t recommend this one.
I had a big problem with the way the narration keeps changing around. I can’t spend ten minutes trying to figure out who is talking. I would go pages and pages wondering who a chapter was about. To make a reader do this is pretentious. It’s like the author and editor didn’t want to spend time on making sure that everything was clear to the reader. Maybe it was supposed to be artistic, but I’m sure it will be irritating enough for people to just stop reading the book. Also, the characters are very weak and we don’t get to know any of them. To be honest, most of them are so unlikeable that I don’t want to get to know them. I don’t expect characters to be perfect, but they should have some redeeming qualities. Not many of the characters here did. They were hollow people.
I am not a prude and I don’t mind reading about sex, but I expect it to mean something in the story. In The Kissing List, it meant nothing to anyone. Example: The Porn Star chapter. Some of the writing shone through in the book and was good, but in this chapter I was surprised at how poorly done it was. The character kept thinking “My porn star, my little pony.” That just left me scratching my head. Was it supposed to be funny? It wasn’t. I didn’t laugh once while reading this book. I would give the author another try with a different book because I think she has a lot of potential, but I’m sorry I just can’t recommend this one.
August 23, 2012
This is marketed as a set of interconnected short stories, but that's a little misleading. The stories are interconnected only in that the characters all know each other and a few are the subject of more than one story. For the most part, the stories have little to do with one another. Just a warning, if that kind of thing is going to irk you.
So, you are probably only going to like this if you're a twentysomething who loves rich metaphors. The stories are all pretty heavily focused on the turbulent post-college, figuring-out-what-you-want years, with a heavy emphasis -- as the title suggests -- on relationships. Each story focuses on different types of relationships and each one is narrated in a different way. You can see Reents playing with different styles -- one story is structured as a memo between characters, for example, another narrated in second-person.
I didn't love all the stories, and there were a couple that I abandoned halfway through. But I love Reents' writing style, full of lovely metaphors and beautiful thoughts. Her characters are all very introspective and there were definitely times I felt like I was peeking into Reents' journal. It could be a little difficult to immediately jump from one story to the next, especially the stories with more experimental structures, and so I kind of wish that Reents had taken more care to connect her stories more thoughtfully. I don't know if a stronger sense of chronology would have helped, or maybe a more consistent pattern among the characters. I'm not sure. As individual stories, though, most of them shined. I'm lloking forward to reading more Stephanie Reents.
So, you are probably only going to like this if you're a twentysomething who loves rich metaphors. The stories are all pretty heavily focused on the turbulent post-college, figuring-out-what-you-want years, with a heavy emphasis -- as the title suggests -- on relationships. Each story focuses on different types of relationships and each one is narrated in a different way. You can see Reents playing with different styles -- one story is structured as a memo between characters, for example, another narrated in second-person.
I didn't love all the stories, and there were a couple that I abandoned halfway through. But I love Reents' writing style, full of lovely metaphors and beautiful thoughts. Her characters are all very introspective and there were definitely times I felt like I was peeking into Reents' journal. It could be a little difficult to immediately jump from one story to the next, especially the stories with more experimental structures, and so I kind of wish that Reents had taken more care to connect her stories more thoughtfully. I don't know if a stronger sense of chronology would have helped, or maybe a more consistent pattern among the characters. I'm not sure. As individual stories, though, most of them shined. I'm lloking forward to reading more Stephanie Reents.
November 24, 2012
The basics: The Kissing List is the debut short story collection by Stephanie Reents. Some of the stories are linked.
My thoughts: The first story in the collection "Kissing," sets the stage for the rest of the book. Reents and the female narrators of her stories are young, brazen, fun and wise: "The funny thing about being in your early twenties is that it's a lot like being any other age, except you don't know it." I have a notoriously hard time reviewing short story collections as a whole, and The Kissing List is perhaps the hardest type to review because its stories aren't as linked as I'd hoped and aren't all centered around a common place or theme. They're a schizophrenic group, and while I adored some, there were some I didn't like at all and many fell somewhere between those two extremes.
What is present across all the stories is the quality of Reents' writing. When I didn't like stories, it was sometimes due to plot and sometimes due to character(s). Still, I admire Reents for taking some bold chances. They didn't always work for me, but they were adventurousness in scope, narrative and theme, and I like those traits, particularly in young writers. Reents isn't afraid of taking chances, and I'll eagerly await whatever Reents writes next.
Favorite passage: "If you think too hard about the grammar of talking, it can fill you with despair."
The verdict: While a few stories stood out in this collection, too many fell flat for me. Despite the unevenness of this collection, it made me a fan of Stephanie Reents, and I'll be eagerly awaiting what she writes next.
My thoughts: The first story in the collection "Kissing," sets the stage for the rest of the book. Reents and the female narrators of her stories are young, brazen, fun and wise: "The funny thing about being in your early twenties is that it's a lot like being any other age, except you don't know it." I have a notoriously hard time reviewing short story collections as a whole, and The Kissing List is perhaps the hardest type to review because its stories aren't as linked as I'd hoped and aren't all centered around a common place or theme. They're a schizophrenic group, and while I adored some, there were some I didn't like at all and many fell somewhere between those two extremes.
What is present across all the stories is the quality of Reents' writing. When I didn't like stories, it was sometimes due to plot and sometimes due to character(s). Still, I admire Reents for taking some bold chances. They didn't always work for me, but they were adventurousness in scope, narrative and theme, and I like those traits, particularly in young writers. Reents isn't afraid of taking chances, and I'll eagerly await whatever Reents writes next.
Favorite passage: "If you think too hard about the grammar of talking, it can fill you with despair."
The verdict: While a few stories stood out in this collection, too many fell flat for me. Despite the unevenness of this collection, it made me a fan of Stephanie Reents, and I'll be eagerly awaiting what she writes next.
February 21, 2016
I should state that I also was in grad school with the author, although we barely knew one another, and the only time we have met since 2000 was last year, very briefly, when she didn't recognize me until I told her who I was. So I venture to hope that I can be completely objective. I really thought this a terrific collection of stories, funny, smart, with plenty of moving moments--particularly as the female protagonists get a little older and a little more disillusioned than they are at the beginning. Reents never resorts to sentimentality, and her psychological insight is striking. It's true that her protagonists are mainly well-off, well-educated white girls, and it's true that there are plenty of other books with such main characters. However, I think it's unfair to criticize the author for her subject matter. What she's given us is a highly engaging collection, written in a voice that is reminiscent at times of Lorrie Moore's, as someone has noted, and yet retains its own uniqueness. My only reservation was that at times I got mixed up about which character was which, not only because there were quite a few of them, but also because they seemed a trifle similar. Nevertheless, this is a debut collection, and no one's first book is perfect (and for that matter, neither are their others!) The book deserves to be much better known than it is, and Reents will, I hope, become a very well-known author with her next book. It's very rare that literary fiction is as enjoyable as this.
November 2, 2012
What a disappointment this book was. The premise seemed so intriguing--12 short stories following a group of college girls after graduating. Their dating stories, first jobs and mostly failed relationships. Booooo. Instead of being funny, or cute, or even deliciously detailed it was tedious, wordy (about non-interesting topics), and poorly executed. The only reason I finished it was that it is a mere 226 pages long (and I guess also because I am slightly OCD about my book reading.)
When I finished it I was so unsatisfied...and I didn't even hate it. I just didn't care. About the characters, what happened to them...I have barely given them a second thought. The book could have had some great insights about our insecurities in the dating pool, marriage, relationships...or if she really wanted to steer away from the mushy could at least given us some sarcastic descriptions of a first date. But any attempts the author made at profundity were buried in banal descriptions of identity confusion or the setting. Snore.
(2 out of 5 stars)
When I finished it I was so unsatisfied...and I didn't even hate it. I just didn't care. About the characters, what happened to them...I have barely given them a second thought. The book could have had some great insights about our insecurities in the dating pool, marriage, relationships...or if she really wanted to steer away from the mushy could at least given us some sarcastic descriptions of a first date. But any attempts the author made at profundity were buried in banal descriptions of identity confusion or the setting. Snore.
(2 out of 5 stars)
April 10, 2012
The synopsis sounds promising, but don't be fooled. This was a bland and truly forgettable book. I didn't care for the writing. I didn't connect to any of the characters. I didn't understand the 'why' of this book. It just didn't work for me, I felt it was a complete waste of time.
May 15, 2012
4.5 stars. wow. i don't think i really had an inkling of what i was in for with this book, but it blew me away.
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November 26, 2019Maybe it was a bad idea to choose to read these stories out of order of how they were published.
I thought since they were randomized anyway, it wouldn't hurt too much but then I read two stories about Sylvie back to back and her jealousy and the hint of people cheating on people in a second story just turned me off on reading the rest of it.
OR maybe it's a low rated book because it's just no good. I had plans to take notes on every story but the two I started reading just turned me off on continuing. I'll even post it without a review so as not to bring it down anymore because it just wouldn't be fair for me to give it a star rating when I didn't finish.
I saw somebody compare the characters to the girls from the HBO show Girls and man, all I care to say is good bye and good riddance.
I thought since they were randomized anyway, it wouldn't hurt too much but then I read two stories about Sylvie back to back and her jealousy and the hint of people cheating on people in a second story just turned me off on reading the rest of it.
OR maybe it's a low rated book because it's just no good. I had plans to take notes on every story but the two I started reading just turned me off on continuing. I'll even post it without a review so as not to bring it down anymore because it just wouldn't be fair for me to give it a star rating when I didn't finish.
I saw somebody compare the characters to the girls from the HBO show Girls and man, all I care to say is good bye and good riddance.
August 9, 2021
I think i liked this book. Got off to a very strange start as i had no idea that each chapter followed a different character. After i realized it was short stories of people in the realm of the main character, things made more sense. Was a neat concept. Read like an independent indie film that starred an A-list celebrity before fame. Didnt understand some things cause it was trying to be too artsy. Like why are some characters mentioned in relation to the main character and some arent and the reader is just meant to assume they're somehow related to the protagonist? And why are the locations not mentioned? it took me the longest time to figure out that it was in nyc and not Oxford, which was what it said in the blurb.
February 3, 2019
Didn’t enjoy this one. The characters were all forgettable, the stories didn’t really connect, and a lot of it made no sense at all. I think there was supposed to be this sense of not being in control as is so often the case in love and life, but it just led to a confusing experience as a reader. I didn’t care about any of these people because I had no sense for their lives as a whole, just little bits at random moments. This book was the epitome of why I normally steer away from short stories.
September 27, 2023
I get what the author was trying to do- all these little vignettes are supposed to be edgy and more than the sum of their parts (e.g the goon squad) but mostly it was incredibly boring. The main issue was I didn’t care about any of the women- most of whom where rich white and whiny.
April 6, 2019
The first chapter starts so abruptly that I thought I had somehow picked up the third or fourth book in a series by mistake. But no, Reents is just a terrible storyteller. Gave up after 44 pages.
January 31, 2013
Short stories are generally hard to rate. There are bound to be some hits and misses and if the stories are not connected a collection can often feel jumbled and and awkwardly strewn togetehr. I wanted to like The Kissing List because I can relate to 20 something year olds trying to balance out life, love and the quarter life crisis (and the title was cute). Sure there are a billion books, tv shows, movies and hell even songs about this period of life floating around but what was intriguing about The Kissing List was that all the stories were connected in some way. Minor characters in one story could in another be the main which brought an interesting perspective to some of the plots. The issue with the Kissing List is that because of this the failure of one story resulted in the failure of the rest. The titular story was vapid and childish and seemed to be written from the perspective of dramatic teenage girl. This set the precedent for the group of people to make up the stories in the collection. Wayward, confused, connection-less and without direction. Each character lacked purpose or drive not only in the direction of their relationships and careers but in there identity and voice. By the time I got to 'None of the Above' and 'Games', two great stories in the collection, I was disappointed that these stories with characters who had the both to lose and gain, were not expanded upon more. Regrettably, this is read I had high hopes for but was happy to finish. Where the stories had promise I was struck by and could relate to the authors fluidity of language in explaining how complex relationships are. If only she had taken more time to develop characters whose stories we wanted to follow rather than forget we'd ever had to encounter.
August 9, 2012
After picking up and setting back down this book for about two months I finally busted out the last 100 or so pages I had left in a matter of a couple sittings during my breaks at work. It's really difficult to explain my feelings in regards to this book because there were moments I was in tears laughing, in tears of despair and sadness (no headless women were involved with these tears fortunately), and then there were times I wanted to skip the short story completely because I wanted to strangle the character.
What I loved...
I'm 21, ergo not an Oxford grad or even a college grad but found many of the situations relatable in nature and felt like there were some really amusing anecdotes. I felt the pain, glee, and indifference of SOME of the characters and that was enough to sell me on the book.
What I didn't love so much...
This is probably my fault because I allowed for large gaps between my sit downs with this book but I spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out if I had encountered a certain character previously in the book. I wish the stories had been ties together a little tighter but there was something I appreciated about the loseness of her writing. I also found some of the stories odd and spent a significant amount of time trying to decipher the thoughts and emotions of the characters to try to understand their quirks and weirdness.
Overall...
I really liked the book. I made a plan last night upon finishing it to wait two years before I decide to pick it up again. I have a premonition that I will either grow to love the book or completely loathe it.
What I loved...
I'm 21, ergo not an Oxford grad or even a college grad but found many of the situations relatable in nature and felt like there were some really amusing anecdotes. I felt the pain, glee, and indifference of SOME of the characters and that was enough to sell me on the book.
What I didn't love so much...
This is probably my fault because I allowed for large gaps between my sit downs with this book but I spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out if I had encountered a certain character previously in the book. I wish the stories had been ties together a little tighter but there was something I appreciated about the loseness of her writing. I also found some of the stories odd and spent a significant amount of time trying to decipher the thoughts and emotions of the characters to try to understand their quirks and weirdness.
Overall...
I really liked the book. I made a plan last night upon finishing it to wait two years before I decide to pick it up again. I have a premonition that I will either grow to love the book or completely loathe it.
June 22, 2012
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for reading and reviewing it.
A series of twelve interconnected stories, Stephanie Reents’ The Kissing List touches various points in the lives of four young women who are in that period of navigating the real world, having recently left college.
The collection reads as though you are dipping into tiny moments in the women’s lives – a brief window opening on an incident that resonates with them for some reason. While each woman faces specific issues and they are clearly very different in how they act and react, I felt as though there was a very slight, but deliberate, blurring of the characters – as if to demonstrate that any of the incidents/occurrences could have happened to any of the women. It made for a sense of familiarity with the women, in spite of Reents not going into a lot of detail about any of them.
As much as the stories themselves, I enjoyed the format and style of the book. By using the short story format, Reents allowed herself room to find the right style for each story, and the variety made for an interesting experience. There are several truly humorous moments and there were a couple of sentences that literally made me stop reading, just to mull them over for a while. Most of the stories are not easy reading, in terms of subject matter, and one or two are downright disturbing, but there is always the sense that this is very real to the participants, handled with a fresh and honest hand. Absolutely beautiful writing, combined with fascinating observations makes this a compelling read.
A series of twelve interconnected stories, Stephanie Reents’ The Kissing List touches various points in the lives of four young women who are in that period of navigating the real world, having recently left college.
The collection reads as though you are dipping into tiny moments in the women’s lives – a brief window opening on an incident that resonates with them for some reason. While each woman faces specific issues and they are clearly very different in how they act and react, I felt as though there was a very slight, but deliberate, blurring of the characters – as if to demonstrate that any of the incidents/occurrences could have happened to any of the women. It made for a sense of familiarity with the women, in spite of Reents not going into a lot of detail about any of them.
As much as the stories themselves, I enjoyed the format and style of the book. By using the short story format, Reents allowed herself room to find the right style for each story, and the variety made for an interesting experience. There are several truly humorous moments and there were a couple of sentences that literally made me stop reading, just to mull them over for a while. Most of the stories are not easy reading, in terms of subject matter, and one or two are downright disturbing, but there is always the sense that this is very real to the participants, handled with a fresh and honest hand. Absolutely beautiful writing, combined with fascinating observations makes this a compelling read.
July 26, 2012
The Kissing List
By
Stephanie Reents
My " in a nutshell" summary...
This book is interconnected stories loosely based on kissing but really about life.
My thoughts after reading this book...
How can I say this? I liked this book without loving this book? The book starts and ends with some of the same characters. The stories are interesting but sometimes a bit odd. Some of the stories were weird. Some had characters that I did not want to know. The characters were sad, quirky, likeable, unlikeable. The book is short and quickly moves to new characters so I was forever checking back to see if I had encountered the character before. I was even confused by Laurie and Sylvie and the wig. It took a lot of reading back to figure out which one was ill.
Whew!
What I loved about the book...
I think I loved the idea of this book more than the actual book. I loved the bright red cover. It sort of made me want to read this book. I did enjoy some of the stories. I was sort of interested in some of the situations.
What I didn't love...
I didn't feel this book the way I thought I would. I am not sure why. It had great writing and good stories and that weird common thread running through it but I just could not connect to it. I am not sure why...it was illusive!
Final thoughts...
I am sure that others will love this book. It's real and a bit quirky. It is a neat tidy little package filled with well written stories.
Enough said!
By
Stephanie Reents
My " in a nutshell" summary...
This book is interconnected stories loosely based on kissing but really about life.
My thoughts after reading this book...
How can I say this? I liked this book without loving this book? The book starts and ends with some of the same characters. The stories are interesting but sometimes a bit odd. Some of the stories were weird. Some had characters that I did not want to know. The characters were sad, quirky, likeable, unlikeable. The book is short and quickly moves to new characters so I was forever checking back to see if I had encountered the character before. I was even confused by Laurie and Sylvie and the wig. It took a lot of reading back to figure out which one was ill.
Whew!
What I loved about the book...
I think I loved the idea of this book more than the actual book. I loved the bright red cover. It sort of made me want to read this book. I did enjoy some of the stories. I was sort of interested in some of the situations.
What I didn't love...
I didn't feel this book the way I thought I would. I am not sure why. It had great writing and good stories and that weird common thread running through it but I just could not connect to it. I am not sure why...it was illusive!
Final thoughts...
I am sure that others will love this book. It's real and a bit quirky. It is a neat tidy little package filled with well written stories.
Enough said!
August 20, 2012
A little surprised at the low rating on this book. I think there's a disconnect between its happy cover, its professed genre of chick-lit, its chick-lit type title and the actual content of the book. It's written by a woman, and its main characters are all women. It's a collection of short stories of interlinked people, but they don't make a composite whole. There's precious little wooing in it, the short stories are generally unhappy but written very well. Some were even moving. So, this was right up my alley. Thank you NYTimes! Favorites were "None of the Above" - an unnamed friend (?) who writes study guides for students from Ohio and Iowa writes about grieving for her brother dead in Afghanistan. "Little Porn Story" - Maureen's tryst with a Porn Star who loves masturbating. "Memo" - Anna's analytical write-up about why she didn't marry fiance Philip. "Animal Cruelty" - Pregnant Deirdre's mice and boyfriend problems. "The Disquisition of Tears" - Laurie's disintegration after several surgeries to remove pieces of her brain. "That Is To Say" - Tabitha's memory playing tricks on her when bff of high school mentions she's writing a memoir. And the best one - "Games" - Sylvie's boyfriend and friend trying to one up each other in front of beautiful Hayley, crashing and burning in the end. This was all good really.
February 20, 2012
(3.5 stars)
I'll freely admit that I often lose interest with short story collections midway through, but I polished off Reents' debut over the course of a few days. Now that I'm through, I'm almost tempted to go back and re-read a few of the earlier ones since I have more of a handle on the characters now.
For a collection of loosely linked stories, they are surprisingly eclectic stylistically. One story, "None of the Above" features a number of mock multiple choice questions (the narrator writes them for a living) that interestingly advance the plot and reveal the characters. "Disquisition of Tears" is one long metaphor that told with a kind of paranormal twist (the narrator gets a surprise visit from a decapitated woman).
There were lines or ideas from time to time that I really liked.
Bottom line: It's a fun, quick read about young adults (mostly women), which I appreciated... but over all, I wasn't wowed.
I'll freely admit that I often lose interest with short story collections midway through, but I polished off Reents' debut over the course of a few days. Now that I'm through, I'm almost tempted to go back and re-read a few of the earlier ones since I have more of a handle on the characters now.
For a collection of loosely linked stories, they are surprisingly eclectic stylistically. One story, "None of the Above" features a number of mock multiple choice questions (the narrator writes them for a living) that interestingly advance the plot and reveal the characters. "Disquisition of Tears" is one long metaphor that told with a kind of paranormal twist (the narrator gets a surprise visit from a decapitated woman).
There were lines or ideas from time to time that I really liked.
The funny thing about being in your early twenties is that it's a lot like being any other age, except you don't know it. For a long time, you think you'll change and become a better version of yourself, but, really, you just wind up being a little more tolerant of the person you've always been from. (page 13)
Bottom line: It's a fun, quick read about young adults (mostly women), which I appreciated... but over all, I wasn't wowed.
March 29, 2014
It has taken me 6 months to finish this book. I bought it at a book signing where I met the author. She was fabulous, I instantly adored her. This was her first published book and I was excited to read it. It is a collection of short stories and so I could read one, set it aside for days or weeks or months, read another, etc. I have to admit I was not crazy about it for the first half of the book, I thought it was weird. Each glimpse into these lives was a chapter size story and wasn't really enough to learn much about them or why this particular event was note worthy. It didn't enrapture me. It wasn't until my dense mind finally picked up on the fact that some of the characters from the stories were overlapping and inermingling. DUH! I'm sure going so long between readings didn't help. Ok so now it is more interesting to me and I really enjoy the last three chapters/stories. That is why I never stop reading a fictional book only part way into it -- you never know what twists might happen to make it better later on. As far as writing goes, the author is brilliant. I just wasn't smart enough to get it for awhile.
April 8, 2012
Full disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from Goodread's first reads giveaways. I've given it a two star, or "it was ok" rating because I found the book rather inconsistent. It's a collection of short stories or vignettes, focusing on different women whose lives are all sort of connected in some way. Fittingly, the stylistic choices for each little vignette vary, but in my opinion, some of these choices work and some, not so much. At worst, a chapter reads like an excerpt from my 16 year old self's hypothetical diary (the very first chapter, yuck), but at best the ending lines of one chapter made me tear up a little on the train. That would be the section about the woman who writes study guides for grade school kids' standardized tests. So considering the whole book, that story and the one about the group of young adults playing irresponsible games in the car were the only sections that had any real resonance for me. The rest of the book, for me, sits firmly in bland, unmemorable chick lit territory.
May 12, 2012
Wendy "The rhythm was less than satisfying: kiss, talk, kiss, talk." The very real young women in Stephanie Reents's accomplished book of stories keep trying to get the rhythm right, the bounce between urge and intellect, where smart girls think through everything but fail to trust their gut, are driven by desire and fear, but utterly confused why they've landed in the arms of men who can't fathom them. Witty, disturbing, and tremendously entertaining, "The Kissing List" charts the body/mind dissonance and striving for consonance with beautiful precision. There are just so many great lines and searing images in this book. In my first read, anyway--and I'm going back for a second round--I loved them all but my fave raves were "Roommates," "Games," and "Animal Cruelty." Buy the book. Read it. Give it away. Repeat.
May 8, 2012
This is supposed to be a series of interlocking stories about four young women, but I never felt like I got to know any of them well enough to really distinguish between them. (The exception to that is a peripheral character who has cancer, and that's really all we know about her.) I also found that it often wasn't clear at the start of a new story whose perspective it was from, which bugged me, especially because you never really got to know any of them well enough to be able to tell. I was really hoping for more from this but it just didn't go deep enough with the characters. If you really enjoy stories of people making bad romantic decisions in NYC, you might enjoy this anyway, especially if you just come at it from a perspective of "the anonymity of the city." So if that's appealing, I'd give it a try. Otherwise, don't.
October 15, 2012
Well this book was a waste of a rainy Sunday afternoon! The story started off ok following one character and stories about the multiple men she kissed - and sometimes more than kissed. The main character Sylvie was quirky - a little too smart for the men she found herself with and yet oddly aggressive in other areas of her life. With each following chapter, we meet another friend of Sylvie as they share their exploits of kissing men in alleys, English gardens, etc. About halfway through the book I kept thinking, when are all the loose ends going to ties together - when will all these characters connect? I was left guessing until the last page and still don't have a proper answer for you. If each chapter was its own short story I would chalk this up to "a book of short stories about kissing" but we were left guessing with almost every character. Don't waste your time!
October 10, 2014
This story is about four young women who move from college into the working world. It tells each of their stories in a slightly connecting way.
I received the ARC so I'm not sure how many changes were made before publication. But the type was all over the page with so many errors that at times it was hard to even know where to place my eyes. The spacing was set so that there were often quite a few spaces between words. Unfortunately this allowed for strange words and type to come between them.
The story, what I could make of it, was just as disjointed and confusing. The women didn't seem to have any depth or focus. The characters didn't connect as much as I'd expected them to and I just couldn't bring myself to care about their whiny and shallow selves.
I received this book free of charge from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
I received the ARC so I'm not sure how many changes were made before publication. But the type was all over the page with so many errors that at times it was hard to even know where to place my eyes. The spacing was set so that there were often quite a few spaces between words. Unfortunately this allowed for strange words and type to come between them.
The story, what I could make of it, was just as disjointed and confusing. The women didn't seem to have any depth or focus. The characters didn't connect as much as I'd expected them to and I just couldn't bring myself to care about their whiny and shallow selves.
I received this book free of charge from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
May 16, 2012
This is a beautifully written, stylistically daring collection of linked stories which follows the lives of contemporary twentysomething women. "Disquisition on Tears" has already been recognized in the PEN/O. Henry Awards as an outstanding story. Each story in this collection sparkles with a unique, brash voice, and fresh approaches to timeless stories of love, loss, and self-discovery. What ties all of these tales together, however, is not only the intersection of the characters' lives, but also the author's fierce lyrical intelligence, which takes us deep into the mysteries and contradictions of the search for authentic relationships with ourselves and others. A must-read for this summer.
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